Wagner Chief Prigozhin Presumed Dead in ‘Plane Crash’ Two Months After Failed Mutiny Against Putin
AP News: “Russia’s civil aviation agency said that Prigozhin and six top lieutenants were on a business jet that crashed Wednesday.”
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a failed mutiny against the Kremlin in June, has died in a “plane crash,” Russian authorities claim. Prigozhin, an ex-convict turned billionaire, was to leave for Belarus as part of an amnesty deal offered by President Vladimir Putin to him and his mercenary force.
While thousands of his armed fighters arrived in Belarus, Prigozhin did not leave Russia — raising questions about President Putin’s real intentions regarding his former confidant.
Prigozhin’s private jet, en route to St. Petersburg, reportedly crashed some hundred miles north of Moscow. “The Embraer business jet crashed in the Tver Region near the settlement of Kuzhenkino. According to preliminary data, all 10 people on board the plane have died,” Russian state news agency TASS reported Wednesday. Wagner chief’s “plane showed erratic flight altitude shifts before the crash,” the news agency added, citing flight data.
⚡️The bodies of all 10 people killed in the crash of a business jet in the Tver region of Russia, including #Prigozhin, the leader of the #Wagner PMC, have been taken to a morgue for examination, Russian state media reported. pic.twitter.com/4SAieSenHL
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) August 24, 2023
President Vladimir Putin attended a concert in the Russian city of Kursk when the news broke out and made no public comment.
The Associated Press reported Thursday:
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and top officers of his private Wagner military company were presumed dead in a plane crash that was widely seen as an assassination, two months after they staged a mutiny that dented President Vladimir Putin’s authority.
Russia’s civil aviation agency said that Prigozhin and six top lieutenants were on a business jet that crashed Wednesday, soon after taking off from Moscow, with a crew of three. Rescuers found all 10 bodies, and Russian media cited sources in Prigozhin’s Wagner company who confirmed his death.
Police cordoned off the field where the plane crashed a few hundred kilometers (miles) north of Moscow, as investigators studied the site. Vehicles were seen driving in to take the bodies for forensic examinations.
At Wagner’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, lights were turned on in the shape of a large cross. Prigozhin’s supporters brought flowers to the building in an improvised memorial.
⚡️Police cordoned off the morgue in the Tver region where the remains of #Prigozhin and #Utkin were brought. pic.twitter.com/Jt5YyLMQOC
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) August 24, 2023
Meanwhile, fighters and supporters of Prigozhin were seen mourning his death by laying flowers outside the Wagner headquarters in St. Petersberg. In June, the Wagner chief had received a hero’s welcome from the residents when he took the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and began his ‘march to Moscow,’ claiming that he was going to purge the Russian military leadership whom he blamed for the blunders in the Ukraine war.
The Wagner group did most of the heavy lifting in taking the fortified Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Prigozhin made expletive-laden videos slamming Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and military generals for holding back ammunition as his mercenary force was being decimated on the battlefield.
At the height of the Battle for Bakhmut, the Wagner group’s strength rose to 50,000, with half of them fighting in Ukraine. The mercenary outfit operates across the globe, ranging from acting as a proxy fighting force in Syria to securing Russian economic interests in Africa. The Wagner mercenaries are currently training the Belorussian military, reigniting long-standing fears that Russia could open a second front on Ukraine’s northern front.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
The fact is, there probably aren’t 20 people in the world who know whether this guy was actually killed in a plane crash.
And not even 10 who wonder why Putin waited so long.
On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria, the former president of Poland in exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski, the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers, the president of the National Bank of Poland, Polish Government officials, 18 members of the Polish Parliament, senior members of the Polish clergy, and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk.
Well…this is Russia and this is Putin so believe about half of what you see and hear. With that much burning fuel it will prove hard to find bodies. Progozhin and his people could well be dead and in hell where they belong. If accounts are proved true then it simply means everyone is expendable if necessary for Putin to stay alive. .
All 10 aboard were killed. But so far, only 8 bodies.
Same could be said of America. We have too many murders of high ranking people with no idea of really what and who really did what
From the Russian perspective, a threat was eliminated. I doubt it’ll go beyond that.
It’s an airplane with no fatalities until this one. Apparently it’s not bomb-proofed.
It was just a question of ‘when’ and ‘how’
I guess Vlad ran out of Polonium 210?
What a damn shame.
Even commercial businesses know not to put all your principals on the same flight. That was just foolish on the part of the Wagner Group.
At least he had the courtesy to not take the Malaysian Air flight.
One way, or another, I’m gonna find ya
I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya
Blondie
One Way or Another
Already seeing photos come out with anti-aircraft missile damage on the downed aircraft. I’d give the news 48 hours to shake out any nutcases with Photoshop, but if this turns out to be some sort of accidental crash… Nobody believes that, but the Russian press and the NY Times (but I repeat myself) will certainly claim it repeatedly.
Years ago, a Soviet warship had a mutiny… the mutineers were protesting that the Navy was communist enough… essentially Trotskyites.. This mutiny may have been to let the Wagner group be unleashed. But then … it’s Russia… enigma and all …..
Supposedly there was a last minute arrival of an expensive wine. That harkens back to an attempt to kill Hilter with a bomb in an expensive liquor bottle…. the bottle was stored in a cold area and the fuse failed… the plotters did successfully retrieve the bottle.
Priggy has returned from the dead before.
White House: OMG!!! What were the odds of this happening????
Vegas: 1 in 1:
Someone needs to deepfake Brandon giving Putin a galactic dissing.
Someone refused to go above ground floor and Vlad lost patience
Not three hours after the crash report veteran commenters at ace’s were saying the CIA did it.
People have lost their minds over the Ukr/Rus war.
An initial report that has since disappeared said that a Russian fighter shot it down.
Another early report that has since disappeared said that Prigozhin often flew in a shadow plane rather than the one he was scheduled to fly on.
Who knows what to believe. However, some people can’t retire until they “die” first and disappear.
No surprise here.